


Nameless Wingstuck AU

by Vanta22exual



Category: Homestuck
Genre: I guess I'll add them as they come, M/M, There's probably going to be more charas but I'm not sure yet, wingstuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-09
Updated: 2016-08-26
Packaged: 2018-08-07 15:22:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7719913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vanta22exual/pseuds/Vanta22exual
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a universe in which every troll gains a pair of wings upon pupation, one familiar troll is left wingless. How does a wingless mutant survive in a society that values strong and beautiful wings above all else?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Karkat still remembered the first time he had been to a big city. It was when he had still been a grub, not even pupated yet, but he remembered being absolutely overwhelmed by all the sights and sensations the bustling area had to offer. Trolls were fluttering around everywhere, delivering things, picking up groceries, visiting friends, just the usual business, really. He had only been there for a short time, so his lusus could pick up a few essential items they were missing. Afterwards, they quickly left again, but Karkat never quite forgot the experience. The young troll promised himself that once he grew old enough, he'd also move into the city, he'd find work as a delivery troll somewhere, and he'd just go on living like that from there. 

The sad truth is, fate often likes to interfere with plans, and it did so in the most cruel ways. Karkat already had a heavy load to carry, having been hatched with an off spectrum color. Luckily it wasn't a cullable offense anymore in this day and age, but he would have to work thrice as hard as anyone else to get the same results. The only thing he would have been able to rely on were his wings. He always imagined them as a grub, they would be large and beautiful and they would carry him and much more with ease. He'd explore the skies, perhaps even discover new places and find someone who would be willing to look past his color to settle down with.

However, when he finally did pupate, he rushed to the mirror, excited to see just how big his new wings would be, just to slowly feel his entire world break down around him as he stared at an empty spot where the candy red wings should have been. However all he did see was the bare grey flesh of his back. He blinked, once, twice, three times. He even tried scratching himself at the spot, perhaps they were hidden under some extra layer of skin? But no. No matter what he did, he would stay wingless. That day, he realized that he would be unable to lead even a somewhat normal life. Being off spectrum was no huge problem anymore, but being off spectrum AND wingless? It wasn't a cullable offense, but Karkat would hardly find work anywhere like this. 

Once that realization had settled in over the next few days, he realized that soon the empire would stop supporting his ass, as any pupated troll was expected to find work and care for themselves. If he couldn't well, that was his problem. He paced his hive many times over, trying to find some kind of solution. But, there really wasn't. He couldn't just MAKE a pair of wings, especially not out of thin air. And nobody would even think to hire a wingless troll. The only things he really could do would be to resort to a life of crime, which would surely get him culled eventually, or he could attempt to scavenge the forest surrounding his hive. 

No sane troll would usually enter a forest, as there were simply too many thorny branches around that one could snag and tear a wing on. There was no cure for a torn wing, although trolls who did end up tearing their wings were considered nearly useless by the empire. It wasn't unusual that they would lose their jobs, their hives, sometimes even their quadrants all because they had lost the ability to use one or both of their wings. Most of them would end up dead eventually, since Alternia was a harsh place to live in without shelter and support. 

Karkat knew this, but he would have to do his best nonetheless. At the very least he had his hive and his lusus, and he was fairly confident that he could build on that alone. He would have to ration the food and money he did have at the moment, as well as make plans how to survive once both of those things ran out. The next couple of weeks were spend making plans and gathering resources from the surrounding area. He could do this. He wouldn't die so easily, it took more than such a little blow to knock down Karkat Vantas. He just hoped that he could keep up this confidence in the coming sweeps...


	2. Chapter 2

Rumors were spreading quickly these days, so quick in fact, it was hard to figure out if something was real or not before the next one came pouring in. People loved to gossip and anything that could stir up some dust was like food to them. Sollux only knew this all too well. It was his job to run after every rumor, interviewing witnesses and tracking down the source. As a journalist, he had discovered many famed rumors to be simple hoaxes, for example that the grubloaf every simple troll could purchase at their local grocery store was in fact made up of actual grubs who had failed their trials. That was ridiculous though.

Just as ridiculous as the claims of a wingless mutant living deep in the large forest bordering their city. Nobody dared to enter it since most of the trees were growing pretty close to eachother, their branches easily able to tear a whole wing or two clean off. The thought that one could traverse the woods on foot never seemed to occur to anyone, even with such a juicy rumor about. Sollux though, Sollux was determined. He had decided to prove that such a rumor was just a hoax. There was no way that a wingless mutant could hide themselves away in this day and age. Three sweeps ago the empire had started a new program to reintegrate such individuals into society since the number of young trolls was dwindling at a fast pace.

The lean yellowblood had traced the source of said rumor all the way back to a hunter who claimed to have tracked a beast into the deepest parts of the woods. However when he had lost it, he instead discovered something incredibly odd. A hive, standing in the middle of the forest near a small pond. It had looked decrepit, or at least so he said, and small fields with growing vegetables were surrounding it. When he investigated, he was suddenly attacked by a lusus, which was quite odd, since lusii weren't native to this forest. All he saw was a young troll dashing off into the forest, noting a lack of wings as he ran to escape the enraged crab.

Sollux was quick to take notes on everything the witness told him, scowling as he figured that he'd have to make a trip into the woods himself. But really. A hive in the middle of the forest with a lusus guarding it and a mysterious troll lurking about. It just sounded too much like a fairytale one would tell a wriggler to be true. Thanking the hunter, the psion flew back to his own hive, folding his four wings against his back as he entered. He was a mutant as well, although most of his mutations were beneficial to him. He was an incredibly strong psionic, as well as possessing two pairs of wings, making him quite the strong flier. He could have easily worked in the military, or as a model, or anything really, but he'd rather just have his peace, so he chose a job in which he could mostly keep to himself instead.

Informing his publisher that he would be out of his hive for a while to gather information, he began packing his things, camping equipment as well as food and some other things he deemed necessary. Of course he packed his trusty camera so he could snap a picture of the tree he was sure the hunter mistook for the lusus. Chuckling to himself, he made a small list of things he would still have to get before he could make the trip. It would be a while, and since he couldn't fly into the forest, he'd be traveling way slower than he was used to. The psion scowled a little as he realized that he could easily tear a wing out there. He'd have to make sure not to spread his wings at all costs. Its not like he could take off in the dense woods either way.

Several days later, his preparations were finished, and the yellowblood finally departed. He flew most of the way, up until the area where the trees were starting to become denser. When it was impossible to continue without risking his wings, he slowly descended, huffing as he looked around and started heading deeper into the forest, trying to keep himself oriented so he wouldn't get lost and starve out here. It was quite easy to, and usually only hunters, rescue teams, and crazy people made the trip into these woods.

The further he wandered into the thicket, the more unsure he became of himself. Perhaps just wandering into the woods all willy nilly hadn't been such a good idea after all. Checking his phone, he cursed when he realized that he had close to zero reception out here. Of fucking course, not surprising, considering how dense the trees were at this point, leaves were nearly blocking out all of the weak light the moon provided, only letting Sollux see a few feet ahead of himself. He could consider himself lucky if he didn't run into any trees. At the very least he wouldn't have to worry about being burnt into a crisp by the sun out here.

Eventually, he sighed, moving to sit down on the stump of a fallen tree, looking around. He had gotten lost, hadn't he? Great. Just fucking great. It would be ages before his Moirail would realize that he was gone, being so antisocial really bit his ass now. He could either stay here and hope that some pathfinder or hunter would pass by coincidentally, or he could keep wandering and get himself even more lost in this hellhole of leaves and dirt.

His options weren't really the greatest, he realized that. Groaning to himself, he moved to take off the heavy backpack he was carrying, moving to dig out a bottle of water he had brought along to the trip, opening it before taking a sip. Just as he did though, he could hear a distinct growling sound. That definitely hadn't been his stomach, and it sounded way too close for comfort. Slowly, the psion looked around, scowling when he couldn't see anything between the trees. This wasn't good, sure, he could defend himself if need be, but he wasn't too fond of the idea of disturbing too much wildlife in these woods.

There. Another growl, even closer this time. And now there were footsteps audible as well. There was definitely something massive headed his way. A bear? No, not even bears were that loud. What else could lurk in these woods? He couldn't come up with anything else that might be this loud and predatory. Frowning, he slowly stood up, his psionics sparking again when he heard the steps steadily growing closer. The trees were making everything echo weirdly, making Sollux nervous since he couldn't pinpoint the exact location the steps were coming from.

Suddenly, before he could do much of anything, he felt himself being picked up by the back of his shirt, screeching in utter terror as whatever had gotten a hold of him suddenly lifted him into the air before sending him hurling towards the next best tree. He couldn't think, could only catch a small glimpse of something huge and white before, moments later, the world seemed to go black around him as he hit the tree and felt his psionics spark one last time.

He was dead. He had run into some fucking beast in the woods and it knocked him out and killed him, he was sure of it. Despite everything though, he slowly felt feeling return to his body, but oh boy, he wasn't happy about it. Because everything ached. His legs felt broken, his rib cage smashed and his neck stiff. But his head, oh god his head was the worst. If there was a way to screw it off and slam dunk it into the trash, Sollux would gladly take it. It felt like his very thinkpan was trying to hammer out of his skull, not to mention that he was still feeling woozy from everything that happened.

Wait.

What the fuck?

Why was he alive? Hadn't the beast killed him? Surely enough, he could clearly remember feeling something pick him up and hurl him into the next best tree at a breakneck speed. It definitely knocked him out. Then why the hell was everything hurting? Wasn't death supposed to be calm and shit? And despite clearly remembering passing out in the woods at night, a reasonably cold place, he felt oddly warm, almost comfortable if not for all the pain throbbing through him. Groaning softly, he slowly tried to open his eyes, but even as he managed to, he could only see everything as a blurry mess. A fire was flickering a few feet away from him, he could tell that much, and from what it felt like, he was resting on something akin to a soft platform. A couch perhaps? Frowning a little, he attempted to turn his head, scowling at the pain that shot through his entire right side as he starred at the ceiling. Yeah, that's definitely a ceiling. Was he in a hive? Why the fuck was he in a hive? Did some rescue team end up finding him after all at the exact moment the beast wanted to kill him? That would be way too convenient, especially for him.

Wait. Voices. There were voices. No. Just one voice. Someone softly muttering to himself it seemed. Maybe that's his mysterious hero right there. If he could just turn his fucking head or sit up or anything really. But no. He was stuck on the couch on his back, his wings being squished down by his body quite uncomfortably, that would give some nice static once he could move them again.

Closing his eyes, he strained to listen to the voice, wanting to figure out what that guy was saying. They sounded like a male, although he was not going to assume things based on just a voice. They were muttering, something about a stupid lusus. Huh. Weird. Maybe it had been a lusus that attacked him after all? Suddenly, the voice grew closer, and Sollux tried to pretend to be asleep. Whoever they were, they seemed to stand right next to the platform Sollux was resting on, and suddenly, the Captor felt a blanket being thrown over him. It was comfortable and warm, although it did feel a little weird. Slowly, he opened his eyes again, wanting to at least see his savior before he passed out again.

As the blurriness cleared out, he came face to face with a rather short troll. He seemed all nubby horns and unkempt hair that was tied back into a loose pony tail with what seemed like a string of bright red wool. Blinking slowly, he took in the appearance of the other troll. His clothes were pretty odd, seems he had sewed them himself from various other articles of fabric. Maybe a hermit? Something about the other troll was bothering him though, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it even as the stranger seemed to take a step back in shock when he realized that Sollux's eyes were open.

After a moment though, it seemed to dawn on him. Wings. This troll was quite obviously missing a pair of wings. They should be visible from the angle he was looking at the other, and even if he somehow wore the rags over his wings, he'd at the very least see the back of the nubby horned troll's shirt bulge out. But no, that wasn't the case. As the troll finally seemed to calm down and opened his mouth to speak, Sollux was already murmuring softly as he fell back asleep.  
"Holy shit....the rumor IS true..."


	3. Chapter 3

Karkat was freaking the fuck out. Actually, more than that. He was just about to have a god damn panic attack right then and there. Perhaps we should rewind a little bit. The day had been pretty normal. There had been an incident a few days ago, some stupid hunter wandering too deep into the woods and discovering his hive. Luckily Crabdad chased them off before they could really see anything. At least Karkat hoped so. Everything seemed quiet too, no drones stomping through the woods, the wildlife seemed relatively undisturbed, everything was peaceful as could be quite honestly.

Well, that was until one fateful night when he went out patrolling with his lusus. Okay well, less patrolling as much as looking for random things that he might be able to use. He was running short on a couple of supplies, and life out here was getting more and more bothersome by the day. However, as he was digging through the remains of a dead deer, his lusus suddenly stormed off, making Karkat perk up and look after the large crab, on one side wanting to know why his lusus was suddenly on alert like this, and on the other side wanting to run away to keep himself from potential danger.

However, after a while, the first side won out, and he very slowly crept after his lusus, only hearing a sickening crack and seeing something spark in the distance before he suddenly broke out into a run. Surely enough, there was his lusus, the crab in full defense mode, the spines on its back raised, his posture hunched, and a low growling noise emitting from its throat. And there, now slumped at the base of a tree, was a troll. Karkat frowned, looking at this guy, he couldn't have been that much older than himself. There were four nice yellow wings spread out behind the unconscious troll, and the sparks from before might indicate that this was a psionic. Odd. What would a troll like that do all the way out here?

That didn't matter though. Not at the moment at least. Karkat looked around, wanting to make sure that no others would be on their way to look for him. His lusus didn't seem to detect any other trolls either, its gaze fixed on the unconscious troll on the ground. Sighing to himself, the wingless mutant slowly wandered over to the slumped over troll, checking his pulse and sighing once he realized that he was still alive. He couldn't just leave this guy out here like this. Society might not be nice to him, but that didn't mean that he had to let some random strange die out in the woods. 

Motioning for his lusus to come over, he patted the crabs snout a few times, trying to calm it down. "Easy you big bag of bulges. You don't have to attack everything you don't know you idiot. Look at the fucking mess you got us into this time." He huffs, slowly moving to heave the unconscious troll onto the crabs back before noticing the backpack nearby and taking it with him. Soon enough, they were on the way back to his hive, and once there, he moved to deposit the troll on his couch, looking him over and bandaging the small head injury he had gotten from getting up close and personal with that tree back there.

Bustling around the hive, he prepared himself some tea from a few herbs he had collected, putting out a glass of fresh water from the pond for the troll once they woke up. Before he forgot it, he moved to fetch one of the furs he used as blankets, throwing it over the troll. This was a fine mess his lusus had gotten him into here. With his luck, this was some kind of tourist or a high ranking military officer or some shit like that and they'd have him culled for letting his lusus injure such an important person. Frowning to himself, he was lost in thought, not noticing when the troll on the couch opened his eyes. 

When he finally snapped back to himself, his eyes went wide as he looked at the other, realizing that the troll had woken up, and that they were starring right at him. Now, Karkat was pretty self conscious about himself. He wasn't the tallest troll, although he was quite burly, having built up a bit of muscle from all the time spent working by himself in the woods. His hair had grown out considerably since he had no desire to waste time cutting it, simply opting to keep it in a messy pony tail instead. His clothes mostly consisted of rags by now, or odd little garments that he had patched up with various pieces of fabric from other things to keep them from falling apart. Overall, he must look quite messy, if not like a total hermit. Not to mention the apparent lack of wings, a thing he had never quite come to terms with, still embarrassed, especially as the troll seemed to frown at him as if there was something wrong.

When he heard the murmur about some kind of rumor, he froze a little. Rumors? What rumors? Did people know he was living out here? How long had they known? Were drones going to be deployed to mow down his hive once the Empire realized that he couldn't contribute to society? Would they take his lusus away to make it raise some other grub? All those questions were whirling around Karkat's head, demanding answers without ever really getting any. And before he could ask the troll what he meant by that, he already passed out again. Great. Frowning to himself, the Cancer paced his hive for a while, trying to decide what to do now. He couldn't just throw this guy out, that would be fucking heartless and he was going to go that far.

With a bit of luck, this guy was totally unaware of what had happened. Maybe Karkat could just lie and say that he had found him randomly passed out in the woods. Maybe he could just make him believe that he was actually the person that saved his life instead of the charge of the beast that nearly killed him. Maybe- maybe he'd just be culled the second this troll managed to make contact with his superiors. At this point, Karkat was absolutely convinced that it was some kind of military official. Four winged psion? OF COURSE the Empire is going to recruit them for a high ranking position, it was like a little puppet show, showing off all the most beautiful specimens of their race in high positions.

After a while, Karkat finally calmed down a little, realizing that there was nothing he could do except just wait for the other to wake up and talk to him about it. Maybe he could convince him to just forget about what he saw here and get out of the woods. Hell, he'd escort this guy out himself if he had to, if only it would save his ass and make sure that he would have his peace again. He just wanted to be left alone, that was all. He couldn't be of any use to society, so he could at least stay out of the way and care for himself so nobody else would have to do it.

Sighing, Karkat decided that the night had been long enough, frowning as he moves to crawl into his now slimeless coon. Sopor slime was a thing that he couldn't get out in the woods, so he simply resorted to padding out his coon with a lot of blankets, pillows, and furs, making it almost like a soft nest which he curled up in to sleep during the day. It was the best he could do, even if it didn't really help with the horror terrors invading his dreams. He had resigned to his fate though, and with all these issues on his mind, he slowly drifted off to an uneasy sleep. 


End file.
